The California Department of Public Health said Friday the boxes called "Dual Ridge Metal Boutique tissue boxes" with the model number DR9M, contain radioactive cobalt-60.

The radioactive material was discovered on Jan. 5 when radiation alarms were triggered during a check of a truck at an inspection station, said California Highway Patrol Asst. Chief Frank Parrish. The truck was bound for the retailer's stores in Santa Clara and San Jose.

Parrish said the discovery was made by a radiation monitor that he described as "able to detect any type of radioactive material and is extremely sensitive."

He would not say where the inspection was held over concerns that truckers would use alternate routes to avoid inspections.

After the discovery, the CHP notified the California Department of Health Services.

The department said as part of a voluntary nationwide recall, the boxes have been pulled from shelves in all of the 21 California stores where Bed, Bath & Beyond sold the product.

Cobalt-60 is a man-made product that is typically used to sterilize medical products or for cancer radiation therapy.

The material contained in the tissue boxes poses no immediate health threat, according to the CDPH and federal officials.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said that scrap metal containing the cobalt-60 could have strayed into a metal load smelted in India and been incorporated into the tissue boxes.

Bed, Bath & Beyond Inc., which is based in New Jersey, said in a statement that its metal boutique tissue holders have been carried in about 200 of its stores nationwide since July.